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The Danish film 'Krigen' (A War), which tells the story of a Danish military company captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan, remains in the running for the Oscar for Best Film in a Foreign Language after the field was narrowed from 80 films to nine.

Directed by Tobias Lindhardt and and starring Pilou Asbæk, who rose to fame with his roles in the internationally acclaimed television series Borgen as well as period drama 1864, the film has enjoyed an overwhelmingly positive response from critics on its release in September this year.

“[The film is] a memorable experience on an intellectual, aesthetic and emotional level,” reviewer Henrik Queitsch wrote in newspaper Ekstra Bladet.

Meanwhile, Jyllands-Posten's reviewer Katrine Sommer Boysen wrote that Asbæk, in his role as Captain Claus Michael Pedersen had “never been better”.

The list of nine remaining films will be shortened to a final list of five, to be announced along with the finalists from the other categories on January 14th. Should 'Krigen' make this list, the film will be able to call itself an Oscar nominee.

Danish films have taken the Oscar in the Best Film in a Foreign Language three times previously – in 1987, 1988 and 2010.